Video Crash Courses
Want to watch animated videos and solve interactive exercises about solving systems of equations?
Click here to try the Video Crash Course called “Systems of Equations”!
A system of equations is quite simply a collection of equations. Until now you have been working with one equation with one variable (one unknown). Now you’ll learn how to solve two equations with two variables (two unknowns).
In general, systems of equations can have as many unknowns as you want them to, but you need to have as many equations as unknowns to get a unique answer. In mathematics there in an entire field called linear algebra, which deals with solving systems of equations.
So why do you need systems of equations? The answer is simple: Often several things are dependent on each other, and then you need a tool that takes this into consideration. An example is buying children’s tickets and adults’ tickets at the same time. You know the total price of the tickets and how many tickets you bought, but what is the actual price of the two different types of tickets?
You’re going to learn three methods for solving systems of equations: Solving by graphing, the substitution method and the elimination method. All of these methods do exactly the same thing: They solve two equations with two variables. It doesn’t really matter which method you use while solving problems, but you are expected to know all three. Solving by graphing is the easiest, so let’s begin with that one. But before you start learning about the different methods there are some things you need to be aware of.
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